Birdbaths and Blooms | Daylily Blog about Reflection

Daylilies and birdbaths are great complements of one another.  The water reflects the blooms or as in the photo on the left, acts as a temporary home for the even more temporary bloom. 

I have noticed many gardeners using the traditional concrete birdbath in their gardens.    A simple pale daylily bloom can last all day floating in the shady birdbath.  Stealing this idea for my own garden, I have learned that if the birdbath is in the shade, the bloom lasts longer.  Also, if the bloom has good substance, that helps it last in the water.  Darker, saturated daylilies tend to lose their color floating in the water, so I don't use the real dark ones.  Large, pale, floppy daylilies work the best as they seem to utilize the movement and not-so-literal fluidity of the water in the birdbath.

Other birdbaths provide structural interest and a visual break from swaths of grassy daylily foliage.  Something you might not have thought to do with your concrete birdbath is to put a concrete cherub or gargoyle in the center of your birdbath.  Look at how the two separate pieces complement each other in the photo on the bottom right...

In general, water in the garden, in any form, is a must.  It reflects and refreshes not only the bugs and the birds, but the gardener as well.  Refreshing the bloom each day is like adding a new piece  of tiny art in an unexpected place.  Surprise!

I love how this daylily fills up with the water from the birdbath bowl.  Look in the throat area of the daylily in the photo on the right.  You can see even the sepal is almost completely submerged, but still holds its substance.  Every day you could float a different bloom in your birdbath, showing off new characteristics or new arrivals in your garden.  I even saw one sales garden once float about 15 blooms in a birdbath at the entrance to the garden.  It gave customers a quick glance of what they could buy without walking in the fields.  These garden owners told me they always sell out of what they have on display "in the bowl" as she put it.   (of course I didn't take a photo of it, and now here I am talking about it...)  They always showcase what they have a large quantity of, or they showcase something extra special like a new introduction or a new arrival.  As something sells out, they replace it with another bloom.  Neat idea for an sales garden, either way! 

Below are a few more examples of great birdbath scenes.

     

      

How often it is that a garden, beautiful though it be, will seem sad and dreary and lacking in one of its most gracious features, if it has no water.

- Pierre Husson

Head to your local garden center now; all four of my local ones have their birdbaths at 50% or more off...you could get a great steal for next season!